Property

Freddie Mercury’s house is for sale for £30m - Step inside the ‘Garden Lodge’ in Kensington

Still on the market nearly two years after first being listed, Freddie Mercury’s former Kensington home remains a rare showcase of the Queen frontman’s theatrical style
By Christabel Chubb
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Nearly two years after it was placed on the market, Freddie Mercury’s former Kensington home, Garden Lodge, remains unsold. With the house once again in the spotlight, it feels like the right moment to step inside and revisit the remarkable spaces Mercury shaped during the final decade of his life.

The eight-bedroom Edwardian house in Kensington was left to Mercury’s former partner, Mary Austin, following his death in 1991, and was placed on the market in February 2024 with an asking price of around £30 million. While its future ownership remains undecided, reports suggest that the absence of a sale may be viewed positively by Mercury’s sister, Kashmira Bulsara, who has previously expressed concern about the property and its contents passing into public ownership. Last year, British press reports also claimed that Kashmira spent around £3 million buying back items from Freddie’s collection that had been put up for auction, believing they should remain within the family.

A keen collector, the Queen frontman, amassed a vast number of costumes, art, furniture and books, which he left - along with the property itself - to Mary Austin. The majority of that collection was sold at a hugely popular Sotheby’s auction last year, which raised close to £40 million in total. Garden Lodge was also the setting for some of Mercury’s legendary gatherings, including his famous Silly Hat Party for his 40th birthday in 1986, when friends filled the house and garden for one of his most talked-about celebrations. The house is not publicly listed, but pre-vetted buyers are invited to submit offers in excess of £30 million.

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Barney Hindle

The house - romantically named ‘Garden Lodge’ - was designed in 1907 by architect Ernest Marshall for the artists Cecil Rea and Constance Halford. Mercury bought the house in 1980. It was his first visit to see it and he made an offer on the spot. Situated in a quiet enclave in Kensington, it was to be his sanctuary, and he would refer to it as his ‘country house in central London’.

In order to achieve this sense of escapism, Freddie enlisted the help of the interior designer Robin Moore Ede, who helped him to transform the large, classically designed house into a luxurious, eclectic space which could act as a backdrop for his ever-growing collections and where he could play host to gatherings of friends. The original double-height artists’ studio was converted into a drawing room, with a wrap-around gallery repurposed as a library-cum-bar overlooking the space below. It was here in the drawing room that Freddie placed his grand piano - on which he composed (arguably) his magnum opus - Bohemian Rhapsody, and which sold at Sotheby’s for £1.7 million.

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Barney Hindle
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Freddie' grand Yamaha piano

Elsewhere, subtle references to Mercury’s upbringing in Zanzibar appear in the sunshine-yellow walls of the hallway and dining room, where geometric cornicing designed by Freddie himself is painted in a striking combination of greens, pinks and gold.

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Barney Hindle

The main hall also leads to the Japanese sitting room. It was named, perhaps, for the garden which the french doors open on to. The Japanese walled garden behind the house was filled with flowers by Freddie’s boyfriend, Jim Hutton. The upstairs boasts an impressive eight bedrooms, with the main bedroom being entered through a dressing room with a mirrored floor and ceiling.

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Freddie Mercury's octagonal dressing room

‘The house has such love and warmth in every room’, says Mary Austin. ‘It has been a joy to live in and I have many wonderful memories here’. For any future owner, the appeal lies not only in acquiring a rare central-London house of architectural character, but in becoming the custodian of a deeply personal and beautifully preserved piece of cultural history.

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Freddie’s teeming bookshelf even includes a small bronze model by Irena Sedlecká of the famous Montreux statue

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